WashPost gets $500k from Ford Foundation

7/30/12 3:00 PM EDT

The Ford Foundation has awarded the Washington post with a $500,000 grant to expand its government-accountability reporting at both the local and national levels with the creation of four new newsroom jobs.

"The one-year grant — with an agreement in principle for two additional years — is part of the Foundation’s Freedom of Expression program, an initiative aimed at promoting journalism in the public interest," Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli and his colleagues wrote in a memo to staff.

The Foundation gave a $1 million grant to the Los Angeles Times in May to expand on a variety of specalized beats, including Brazil and the California prison system.